Respirator or inhaler.



v R. DONALD. RES-PIRATOR OR INHALER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5.1918.

1,26,696. Patented'June 4, 1918.

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. RESPIRA'IOR OR INHALER.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1918.

- Application filed February 6, 1918. Serial No. 215,728.

My invention relates to respirators or inhalers, and has for its object to provide such devices with an improved exhalation ornonreturn valve or valves that will be cheap to manufacture, simple in construction, efiicient in operation, and not liable to be damaged or put out of .orderby rough usage.

It is a particular object of my invention to provide an improved exhalation valvefor the type' of respirators illustrated by my U. S. Patent No. 1,229,050, ofJune 5th, 1917,

although the valve is equally adaptable to all gasmasks orrespirators which require a non-return exhalation valve.

It is to be understood that respirators are worn especially by soldiers during the so called gas attacks, and that inasmuch as such gases as chlorin, bromin and many others equally dangerous are encountered, provision must be made to prevent even small amounts of such gases from entering the nasal passage or throat ofthe wearer. Any one employing my device cannot by inadvertence or accident draw in air through the exhalation passage because of the instantaneous action of the flexible valve which constitutes my present invention. A

For respirators and inhalersthere is an advantage in non-return valve action pro duced by the mutual pressure of smooth surfaces of flexible material such as oiled silk or mackintosh or india rubber in the form of a tube collapsible under preponderating pressure exerted on the outer surface thereof. The improved non-return exhalation valve provided by my present invention is in the form of a collapsible cylindrical tube or sleeve having one of its ends secured to the respirator or inhaler and made of a fabric or material such as oiled silk, mackintosh, india-rubber or the like or other air-proof material, whichfabric or material is'of such thin and flexible nature that the tube will readily open and distend to allow air exhaled in or from a respirator to enter the tube at the fixed open end and to pass out through th distended be but wi l readily collapse or fold upon itself when air attempts topass in the opposite direction. In a respirator the fixed end of the tube or sleeve may be attached around an aperture in a mouth fiap strengthened if necessary at the part. The tube or sleeve valve may for protection be inclosed more or less within a firmer outer tube, say of rubber, and the fixed end of the valve may be attached to the outer tube at or near one end, which the.

wearer may take into his mouth.

My invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional side elevation of a respirator or inhaler, showing the improved exhalation valve applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail longitudinal sectional view illustrating theconstruction of said valve and its arrangement within a protective tube, the valve itself being shown collapsed; r

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 8, 3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a view illustrating a slight modification in the construction and arrangement of the valve.

As shown, the exhalation valve is in the form of a cylindrical collapsible tube or sleeve a made of oiled silk or other thin and flexible fabric or material, which tube or sleeve, as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, is preferably secured within a firmer outer protective or reinforcement tube or mouthpiece b of rubber or other preferred material, although this protective tube is not essential. The tube is passed through alined apertures in the inner and outer walls of the respirator, the construction of which does not differ in aterially from that shown in my former patent. In use the tube or sleeve valve a readily opens to allow the air exhaled from the mouth to pass out through the distended tube or sleeve, but collapses or folds upon itself should the wearer attempt to draw air inward or in the opposite direction. The inner open end of the valve a may be secured to the inner end of the tube 6 by such means as adhesive material, or by stitching, or by clamping it between the end of theouter tube and an inner ring 0 as shown in Fig. 2. If desired a simple tube or sleeve a may, as shown in Fig. 4, have its proximal end attach d to an aperture 4 th r pirator e Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

the latter being strengthened at this part if necessary by such means as a short metal or other tube f, or the tube a may be attached to an aperture formed in a mouthpiece or flap of more or less firm substance such as metal or india-rubber stitched or otherwise attached to the respirator. In Fig. a the tube or sleeve (1 is shown extended, as by the force of exhalation from the users lungs, in full lines, and in its contracted position in dotted lines.-

The sleeve valve a, when inclosed within the outer tube 6, is preferably and advantageously made so large that when distended it fills the outer tube. Such a sleeve valve a, when collapsed 011 itself, will be of a width too great to lie flat within the outer tube 6 but will. lie around half the inner circumference of said outer tube as shown in In order to aid the opposing surfaces of the valve to thus collapse during the use of the respirator, the valve may, in manufacture, be collapsed and fastened temporarily to a cylinder of a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the outer tube. It is evident that a sleeve valve of this size in relation to the outer tube will have nearly 21} times the capacity of a sleeve valve that, when collapsed fiat, would be accommodated on a diameter of the same tube.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for What I claim is 1. In a respirator or inhaler a non-return exhalation valve in the form of a cylindrical collapsible tube made of such air-proof material as oiled silk, or india rubber, which material is of such thin and flexible nature that the tube will readily open and distend to its full cylindrical form to allow exhaled air to pass therethrough in one direction, and will readily collapse and fold upon itself to prevent air passing in the opposite direction, and means for securing the tube at one end only to the respirator.

2. A non-return exhalation valve for respirators, comprising an outer protective tube, an inner cylindrical collapsible tube, contained within the outer tube, the collapsible tube having an outside diameter equal to the inside diameter of the protective tube, and means for securing the two tubes to each other at one end. i

3. A respirator comprising a body with inner and outer walls, an outer tube passed through. the walls and having one end constructed to form a mouthpiece, and a cylindrical collapsible tube contained within the outer tube.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name.

ROBERT DONALD.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

